Millennials are the biggest spending generation for the online gaming and betting industry, according to an industry report from payment provider PXP Financial. However, if gambling firms are not quick to adapt to the attitudes, desires, and expectations of millenials over the coming years they could find themselves struggling to stay relevant in a world where they are competing with an ever expanding array of entertainment options.
Millenials (Gen Y), individuals born between 1981 and 1995, were the first generation to grow up with the internet. Whilst many Gen Xers may have finished school and even university without much time in front of a computer, millenials saw the internet develop in front of their eyes and had a front row seat to the emergence of Google, Amazon, Facebook, and many of the other major online brands of today. They are digital natives and so it is no surprise that they dominate the online gambling landscape.
By comparison, the Baby Boomers are now well into retirement and whilst most will now use the internet for various tasks, they will never be as comfortable online as those born in the 1980s and 1990s. And Gen Z, individuals born between 1996 and 2012, may have been born with a smartphone in hand, but they are only just joining the adult world. It may be that once Gen Z hit their 20s and 30s they will take the crown of largest online gamblers from the millenials, but that will be decades away from today.
To target millenials, gambling firms could look to the video games industry. The millenial generation was the first to see video games as mainstream, with Nintendo, Sega, and Sony consoles a common site in their homes growing up. Each new generation of gaming console has brought with it impressive new graphics processing that has made games ever more realistic and engaging, and gambling firms should take note. In the 1990s Super Mario was the height of gaming graphics and basic digital casino games could give a similar “feel”, but with titles like Demon’s Souls and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla coming to the PS5 and XBox X later this year, gambling firms have not been keeping pace.
Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) was a huge success for years before the developers launched the Diamond Casino & Resort, but the new gambling game-play gained significant excitement from players. Such games could provide examples for how the gambling industry could adapt beyond the standard casino games and entice new players with an alternative to the free bet or 20 free spins promotions they currently employ. And if GTA 5 is the example to follow, then the results could be very lucrative for whichever firm manages to get it right.
